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Monday, 27 August 2012

SORDID PREVALENCE OF SUPERSTITIONS AND MYTHS

SORDID PREVALENCE OF SUPERSTITIONS AND MYTHS

The history of inculcating scientific temperament in our countrymen
during the late 1980s and early 1990s has been documented by National
Council of Science and Technology Council (NCSTC), a
science-popularizing wing functioning even nowadays under the Department
of Science & Technology of Govt. of India. Vigyan Prasar, another
body for popularizing

science among
masses was born out to propagate the magnanimous work undertaken during
the above noted countrywide movement launched with much fanfare and
later acclaim of having made a positive impact. As a scientific
communicator I had, in a way, got associated with Vigyan Jathas and
closely watched its functionaries to perform various tasks under strain.
I had once requested Dr. Narender Sehgal, Director of NCSTC and
spearheading the movement under the worthy guidance of Prof Yash Pal to
assess and study the impact on of the Jathas and the Movement left on
the mindset of the people but told that it was difficult to quantify it.
However, certain indicators developed by social scientists could be
selected and applied for assessing the changes in the living conditions
of our people, particularly the common man living in small towns and
village communities, as well as the environment and a report was
carefully prepared. After much deliberations, the software selection and
preparation committee of the science popularization movements, launched
twice, had developed several types of affordable material for
inculcating an interest in science. It was immensely popular with the
school level children. One of its major fallout was beginning of a
Children’s Science Congress, annually co-held at the same venue
determined for organizing Indian Science Congress.

Breaking
the centuries old myths and superstitions was one of the major tasks
during the twice-organized popular science movements in India. Both the
scientific community as well as the national governments universally
acclaimed the gigantic effort across the globe. These movements would
have acted as catalyst upon which the people were supposed to acquire
better understanding of science and technology, particularly in the
Indian national context, and sustain it too. But regrettably, the
society in general kept itself aloof only because as a pre-condition it
would require some sort of basic and formal educational standards, which
were absent. In spite of communicating science and technology in simple
terms and local language, the people remained uninterested in acquiring
scientific information by dint of which they could have certainly
improved their way of living and thinking about the world around them.
Another reason for failure of the people to acquire scientific
temperament was the mass-psyche of the society that feared its local
mentors so much that it became impossible for them to unshackle from the
grip of superstitions and myths. For centuries local faith healer and
Guru, practicing witchcraft, forbade the illiterate and the timid Indian
to accept modern scientific knowledge and change his mindset according
to newly acquired knowledge. Fearing a backlash from such wicked
persons as noted above, the common person had no other option but to
remain an instant for victim for them. Instances of witchcraft and faith
healing in India come to notice only because a few of the gory
incidents get immediately reported in the media. The State has no
effective role except taking action in accordance with the provisions of
the Cr.P.C and only if there was a complaint against the perpetrator.
It is too much to expect of a Sarpanch, most of which are semi-educated
having political agenda, to be having a scientific temperament. The
architecture of our social system that runs our life in general in
addition to the architecture of modern political system that shapes the
mental environment is of non-scientific nature. It is another matter,
that in spite of these constraints we still learn science and attain
technological feats but without really having a scientific temperament.
Your editorial –Superstitious sarpanch, (The Tribune, 27 August 2012) is
a hitting piece of comment on the sordid milieu that persists even
after massive inputs –both materially and educationally, in science
popularization in the last three plan periods. It was terrible to learn
that the father killed the feverish girl child instead of seeking
treatment at a govt. run hospital. Whatever happened at village Bhinder
Kalan (Punjab) is not an isolated incident but a common one throughout
India. How many of our village Headmen know about the work of NCSTC,
Vigyan Prasar and a number of other scientific institutions that have
created new knowledge for the betterment of the fellow citizens and how
many of them access the websites of these organizations for acquiring
information about their activities? Obviously, the number is negligible.
Our civilization has been gradually built upon folklore that makes it
difficult to recognize modern science as way of life and see our
scientists and technocrats something as icons.

About Me

I am a cultural historian and looking for dedicated friends who work in documenting the cultural heritage of India both tangible and intangible. I am life member of INTACH, Science writer, author, contributor, frequent traveller, photographer, lecturer, friendly, sharp minded, caring and physically robust. Likes simple, traditional Indian food and company of young, energetic and absultely nationalistic people.